Our 15 Day South Africa Itinerary

Last week I received three separate emails from people inquiring about my South Africa itinerary and my South Africa page has received a lot more traffic than usual.  I’m thrilled more people are thinking about visiting this stunning country, and admittedly a little jealous of their forthcoming trip.  I thought it would be helpful to share our full (self-planned) South Africa itinerary in one blog post since I’ve only written posts about specific destinations within the country.

Below is how we spent our time in South Africa as well as what we’d change or add to the itinerary.

Our 15-day itinerary in South Africa:

Day 1: Travel (NYC-London-Cape Town)

• Arrived in Cape Town at 8am, picked up car rental at airport

• V&A Waterfront for lunch
• Checked in to the Taj downtown (highly recommend!)
• Drove to Kirstenboch Botanical Gardens
• Sunset drive back to the Taj along the coast
• Read more about day 1 here

Day 2:  Cape Town

• Morning: Were had colds/jet lag so we rested at the hotel and enjoyed the incredible breakfast spread at the Taj
• Afternoon: District Six Museum
• Dinner: Mama Africa (you can sample all the African game meats here)
• Read more here

Day 3: Cape Town

• Huge daytime storm - severe wind & hail
• Two Oceans Aquarium
• High Tea at Hotel Mt. Nelson
• Watched a spectacular sunset on the west side of town
• Read more here

Day 4: Cape of Good Hope

• We spent the day driving the Cape of Good Hope
• Stopped at the Penguin Colony
• Cape Point National park
• Dinner: Royale Eatery, a gourmet burger place on Long Street
• Read more here

Days 5-6: Winelands

• Drove to Franschhoek, passing through Stellenbosch
• Stayed at the most lovely little guesthouse called Fransvliet
• Visited vineyards/wineries. Check out our favorites in my "Wineland Awards" post.
• Dinner: Ryan's Kitchen - easily one of the best meals I've ever had

Day 7: Winelands to Hermanus

• We visited a few more wineries and then spent the day driving to Hermanus - several hours from the Winelands.
• Stayed at Quarters in Hermanus
• Dinner: Cocos (average bar & grill)

Day 8: Great White Shark Diving in Hermanus

• Spent the day with Great White Shark Tours and came face to face with four majestic sharks!
• Dinner: La Pentola
• Read more here

Day 9: Hermanus to Cape Town

• Drove 2-3 hours back to Cape Town
• Stayed in Greenpoint at the Villa Zest hotel

Day 10: Cape Town

• Morning: Hiked up Table Mountain
• Afternoon: Camps Bay
• Dinner: Gold Restaurant
• Read more here

Day 11: Flew from Cape Town to Hoedspruit

• Picked up rental car - drove 45 minutes east to Tanda Tula in the Timbavati game reserve.
• Advice: if you plan to drive into the game reserves, book an SUV or truck with high ground clearance. Many roads are nothing more than sand covered tracks through hilly scrublands. We ended up with a Toyota Corolla and it’s a miracle we made it out in one piece.

Day 11-13: Tanda Tula Safari

• Our favorite experience in South Africa! Read more here.

Day 13: Drive to Nottens

• Nottens Bush Camp is in the Sabi Sands game reserve, a three to four hour drive south of Tanda Tula
• Evening safari, sundowners & dinner

Day 13-15 Nottens safari

• A very different safari experience from Tanda Tula.
• Read more here.

Day 15: Drove from Nottens to JoBurg Airport

• Looking back, we’d recommend spending the extra money to fly from Kruger to JoBurg. The drive was six hours long with nothing much to see along the way.

The two things we wished we’d done in Cape Town but didn’t have time:

• Robben Island tour (Nelson Mandela's jail)
• Visit a township

The weather was pretty bad during our Cape Town stay, causing the Robben Island tours to be canceled. We’ve also heard Sundays are the best time to visit the townships, as they have barbecue parties for locals and guests. Unfortunately the scheduling didn’t work out. We will definitely be heading back to South Africa some day, and these items will be at the top of the list!